An Israeli airstrike on a car near a crowded park in downtown Gaza City killed two suspected militants on Thursday, the second such attack this week after a period of relative calm along the Israeli-Gaza border.

Similar flare-ups have in the past escalated into a wider confrontations between Israel and Hamas-ruled Gaza. After Thursday’s strike, Israel’s military alleged the two men in the car had planned to infiltrate Israel to attack soldiers and civilians, but provided no details.

The strike on Wednesday killed terrorists that were preparing to send rockets into Israel. That’s the “relative calm”, I suppose: The rockets hadn’t yet landed in Israel. Oh, and Ynet managed to find a host of unprovided details about the dead terrorist.

Batash, IDF officials claimed, was a senior figure in the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and was behind an imminent terror attack in the south.

Officials said Batash was also involved in several attacks in which terrorists from Gaza were smuggled into Sinai and then infiltrated back into Israel through the border. In January 2007 he organized a suicide bombing in Eilat that killed three Israelis.

Batash was also involved in several botched attacks, in which he tried to smuggle terrorists and arms into Israel.

The AP could manage only a bland referral to “a suicide bombing in Israel five years ago that killed three Israeli civilians.”

But the best part of the article is this unbelievable quote from a Hamas spokesliar:

Ihab Ghussein, spokesman for the Gaza Interior Ministry, said the airstrike was “an unjustified crime committed in a populated area and is part of a recent escalation against the Gaza Strip.”

And while the AP is on a roll, it must also make a moral equivalence between the killing of terrorists and–wait for it–the repair of part of the Temple Mount complex. Both, you see, are upsetting to Palestinians, and both are instigated by Israel. And watch how the AP completely takes the Palestinian point of view regarding a bridge repair.

In another source of friction, Jerusalem municipal officials announced they would shut down a walkway to a contested shrine at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a move liable to touch off a new round of violence between Muslims and Jews in the volatile holy city.

Any work in the area around the Old City compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary draws fierce condemnation and sometimes violence from Palestinians, many of whom suspect Israel wants to harm Muslim shrines.

Note that there is no corresponding denial from the Israeli government, which, of course, is not harming Muslim shrines. And what is this “shrine” that is going to be harmed?

The municipality says the wooden walkway leading to one of the hilltop site’s gates — built as a temporary structure after a centuries-old ramp was damaged in a 2004 snowstorm — is a fire hazard and structurally unsound and must be replaced.

Wait–what? It’s a wooden bridge that the Israelis built seven years ago, not some precious artifact of dubious Muslim heritage? No matter. Remember, it will upset the Palestinians, therefore, it may not be done. Plus, the media will ignore the lies of the Palestinian media, who will put out false stories that Jews–not Israelis, Jews–are invading the al-Aqsa mosque. There are also reams of quotes from Palestinian sources, and exactly zero from Israeli sources. Way to be unbiased, Ibrahim Barzak and the AP! Awesome that you follow your own principles so closely.

Ah, yes, they “suspect” Israel wants to harm Muslim shrines. Israel has had control over such shrines for forty-four years and has never even tried to harm them, but in true postmodern style, the suspicion that they might want to do something they’ve never done is sufficient.

Meanwhile there are Jewish shrines, like Rachel’s Tomb, that have been harmed by Muslims, but I guess even the AP has space limitations and for goodness sake, can’t cover everything.

Comments are closed.

The Catmage Chronicles

It's been hundreds of years since the Darkness last surfaced, a grim time when both humans and Catmages lost their lives. But now the Wild Ones work with humans again, and thirteen-year-old Andy Cohen gets the surprise of his life when a talking cat shows up in his front yard. Goldeneyes, a powerful Catmage, needs Andy’s help. In the exciting first installment of this new series, Meryl Yourish takes the reader into a world of magical cats, dark powers, and a boy who finds himself entangled in their war.